The Coalescence of Excellence
The Yukon Rush celebrate after another well earned win!
When it comes to excellence, the Yukon Rush have been a step above the competition this season. After a rough first week, the Rush went on a 14 game winning streak to take over first place and haven't looked back since. After hitting a little snag at midseason, Yukon is currently on a 10 game win streak and holds a 17 point lead going into the final third of the season. What has put the Rush at the top of the class this season has been their cohesiveness as a unit. While they have some top of the line talent, their ability to work as a team has propelled them forward. Every player on the team has their role on the ice, and every one of them brings something different to the table.
The Fowards
Starting off, we have the centerpiece in most of Yukon's front lines, Varis Tribuncovs. Tribuncovs is the anchor of the offense and leads the team in both shots and goals. In fact he is second in the entire VHLM in goals with 32. What might be his most useful ability to the team however is his prowess in face-offs. Tribuncovs leads the league with an incredible 68.52% Face-Off %, a remarkable number considering he's been in 1436 of them this season. Surrounding Tribuncovs on the first line are wings Kevin Knight and Yandall Beast. Knight leads all Yukon wings with 46 points scored, bringing a strong balance with 22 goals and 24 assists on the season. Meanwhile Beast might be the most talented passing forward on the team, and he has also won an impressive 62.12% so far, albeit in limited sample size. In addition, Yukon's second line featuring Oyorra Arroyo and LeSean Coutzen has been equally fearsome, as the pair lead the VHLM with a +/- of 31 and 30, respectively. Arroyo's small size and elusiveness has been a great boon to the Rush, and his 33 hits taken is the fewest amongst all players who have logged at least 1100 minutes this season. Coutzen has been more well known as a skater and a shooter, but he has paced all Yukon forwards with 106 hits on the season. Together these five form a core of players that many teams can only dream about.
The Defensemen
While the forwards have been impressive, the meat of Yukon's lineup is its defenders. The key to a great defense is balance, and no pairing brings the yin and yang together quite like the first line of Ho Lee Fook and Luc Pierre Lespineau Lebrunette. Fook is very much the offensive minded finesse player of the two, and he's quite possibly the most talented passer in the entire league. Fook has a league leading 48 assists on the season, and he is also second on the Rush with 69 blocked shots. Surprisingly, he only has 15 hits on the season, but that's where the bruiser Lebrunette comes in. Lebrunette leads the team with a whopping 195 hits and 94 penalty minutes this season, both 2nd in the league. He has never met a man he didn't want to knock out, and knocking them out has indeed been his specialty. Yukon's second line also has a contrast of styles, as the offensive minded Noel Roux pairs up with the more graceful buster Billy Pilgrim to form one of the most fierce pairings in the league. Despite playing in the back, Roux is the primary shooter for the Rush's 2nd line, and his team leading 65 points ranks 2nd in the VHLM, all while pacing the team with 73 blocked shots. Meanwhile, Pilgrim has been his primary setup man, and his 54 points are 2nd most amongst all defensemen in the league. Pilgrim has also been a hitting machine, accumulating 119 to rank 6th overall. It's never a pretty sight when these two terrors swarm the opposing team.
The New Guys
Although the Rush are atop the standings, GM Connor Low knows now is not the time to get comfortable. Knowing that the Oslo Storm and Las Vegas Aces may attempt a move to bridge the gap between them, Low struck the iron first, giving up the team's 1st and 2nd round picks in season 60 in exchange for forwards John Stronk and Veran Dragomir. While it remains to be seen how well these two will fit into the roster, Yukon's 3-2 win over Las Vegas in their debut brings high hopes. Dragomir is the big name in the trade, as he is the most polished shooter and quite possibly the most talented player in the entire VHLM. Prior to the trade, he led the Wild with 45 points and a +/- of 20 on the season, and he was one of the prime reasons that Saskatoon is ahead of Ottawa in the standings. In addition, don't sleep on Stronk. Stronk spent about 3 years in a drug haze that saw him wash out of the league completely before signing on with Saskatoon a third of the way in the season. Since his return, Stronk has made a team leading 14.93% of his shots and is averaging almost a point a game. He may be the oldest man in the locker room, and those drugs may have taken years off his playing career and life in general, but it seems that the once promising prospect has finally figured things out.
The Leader
There's a saying in hockey that "you're only as good as your goalie". The goalie is the last line of defense for your team, and even the best teams give up a multitude of shots each game. Fortunately for the Rush, Tristan Iseult has been one of the best this season. Iseult paces all goalies comfortably with a 2.12 goals against average, and his save percentage of 0.903 is just a hair under league leader Vladislav Koradek's 0.904. Iseult also ranks second in both shutouts and penalty shots percentage. Overall, Iseult has been an absolute bastion of defense for Yukon, and his masterful blend of style control, hand speed, and reaction time make him one of the toughest goalies in the league to score on.
1018 words, using for PT weeks Mar. 12th - 18th & Mar. 19th - 25th
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